Production of variegated articles



J y 6, 1940. N. o. BRODERSCN 2,208,494

PRODUCTION OF VARIEGATED ARTICLES Filed 001;. 26, 1937 Patented July 16, 1940 UNITED STATES PRODUCTION or VABIEGATED ARTICLES Neil 0. Broderson, Rochester, N. Y., assiznor to Rochester Button Company, Rochester, N. Y a corporation of New York plicati0n October 26, 1937, Serial No. 171,119

5 Claims. (01. 18-55) This invention relates to the production of variegated articles of molded plastic substancesand particularly to the production of molded articles having a striated, veined, or marbled appearance. A particularly useful application of the invention is in the production from plastic substances of buttons and similar articles simulating the appearance of natural horn, bone, ivory and the like.

None of the methods which have heretofore been proposed for the production of variegated effects in molded articles, particularly in smaller objects such as buttons, have been entirely satisfactory for reproducing the finer grained variegations of natural materials, either because of the lack of similarity of the finished article to the natural material or because of the inordinate expense of the proposed methods.

It is, therefore, a principal object of the invention to provide a method whereby the finer markings of natural materials may be reproduced in plastic articles, such as buttons.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a method for the production of molded articles simulating natural materials whereby the effects obtained are readily reproducible and not subject to variations arising from chance or individual skill.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention,

I have found that highly satisfactory and fully reproducible variegations in color on molded articles, similar, for example, to the fine-grained markings of horn and bone, may be produced by impressing upon the surface of a preformed blank, preferably during the formation of the blank, a topically distributed pattern in intaglio or relief, thereafter treating the impressed surface of the blank with coloring matter, preferably by spraying a solution of a dyestufi or a suspension of a pigment thereon and molding the blank into the desired configuration by a pressureforming operation.

Although pleasing and desirable effects may be produced by topically varying the amount of coloring matter applied to the surface of the preformed blanks, the variegation in tone obtained by the method of the invention does not depend on or require any such variation in the application of color, but is due to the varying capacity of the surface of the blank for the reception or absorption of color arising from the intaglio or relief design impressed thereon.

Moreover, this impressed pattern does not need to be, and in general should not be, an exact duplication of any naturally occurring pattern. On the contrary, various formalized designs have been found to result in finished articles which faithfully reproduce the appearance of natural materials because of the plastic flow at the surface of the article during the final molding operation.

The invention will be more particularly described for the purpose of illustration, as applied to the production of buttons having the appearance of a natural horn button and with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a preformed blank for a button having a pattern impressed in' the surface thereof in accordance with principles of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged section on line 22 of Figs. 3, 4 and 5 show consecutive steps in the apphcation of coloring matter to the surface of I the preformed blank; and

Fig. fishows the molded button ready for the finishing operations.

The blank I0 is formed, preferably by a coldpressing operation, from any plastic composition suitable for the production of buttons, for example, one of the known urea-formaldehyde resinous compositions capable of hardening under the influence of heat and pressure to a hard, durable molded article. The topically distributed impressions II in the surface of the blank are preferably formed therein during the operation of forming the blank. For example, an amount of a pulverulent, that is powdered or granular, composition preferably slightly in excess of the weight of the finished molded button of the desired size, in accordance with the usual practice of plastic molding, is placed in a preforming die at least one face of which carries the counterpart of the impression to be formed in the surface of the blank. The material in the preforming die is subjected to sufiicient pressure to render the blank coherent during the subsequent operations prior to the final molding. In this condition the blank is relatively porous and much more absorbent than the final molded article.

The composition of which the blank is formed may be of any desired color and it may be placed in the die in layers of different colors as is known to the art. In general, many of the known methods of obtaining desirable effects in the molding of plastic materials may be utilized in conjunction with the method of the invention without destroying its principle of operation.

After the forming operation the preformed blank I0 is treated with color. In order to obtain the desired effects it is often preferable to subject the blank to a plurality of treatments with color compositions of different colors and strengths. This treatment is preferably effected by spraying a liquid coloring composition upon the blank, or by dusting a powdered coloring composition thereon. Advantageously at least a portion of the spraying operations is conducted with the interposition of stencils or vignettes, so that the blank is only locally impregnated with coloring matter as is illustrated in Figs. 8 and 4, while one or more of the color treatments may be uniform over the surface of the blank as illustrated in the stage of treatment shown in Fig. 5.

After the color applying operations are effected, the colored blank is dried if necessary to remove solvent remaining from the color compositions and the dried blank, either immediately or after storage, is subjected to a final molding operation suitable to the particular plastic substance of which the blank was made. In the case of the urea-formaldehyde compositions referred to above, and in general with the plastic compositions used in the art, a hot pressing operation of the type well known in the art .is used. The details of the molding operation will, of course, depend on the particular plastic composition being used. In general, any of the known types of plastics are suitable for practicing the invention, including for example, the thermo-setting type of plastics such as ureaformaldehyde and phenol formaldehyde condensation products, and the thermo-plastic type such as casein compositions, cellulose acetate compositions and vinyl resin compositions.

The molded article I4 resulting from the hot pressing operation is ready for the usual finishing operation, such as the formation of thread holes, polishing and the like. It is to be noted that in general the portions of the finished button having the greater depth of color (I3 in Fig. 6), correspond to the raised or under-pressed portions 12 of the pattern impressed on the blanks. The effect is typically obtained when the color composition is sprayed onto the blank in liquid form, while if the color is dusted on in the form of a powder the depressed portions typically exhibit a greater depth of color in the depressed portion. The contrast in depth of color and the relative positions of the different tones can be varied to a large extent by varying the position of the stencils when these are used and by varying the angle at which the stream carrying the liquid or powdered color is directed at the blank.

The tone and strength of the coloring compositions and the number and sequence of the applications, as well as the configuration of the design impressed on the surface of the blank, will, of course, be varied with the effect to be obtained, as determined in general by preliminary tests. While the number of variations in final effect obtainable is limited only by the ingenuity of the designer in combining various colors, stencils and impressed patterns, nevertheless it will be seen that once a desired effect is obtained it can be reproduced indefinitely by using the same designs, colors, stencils and sequence of operations. This is a highly advantageous feature of the method of the invention, as by a suitable system of recording the patterns, colors and operations used to produce a certain effect, this effect can be duplicated at any time in accordance with the demands of the trade. Moreover, after the details of pattern and operation for a particular effect have been worked out, the production of molded articles exactly reproducing that effect can be carried out on a large scale by workmen without artisticv training or ability.

I claim:

1. A method of making articles of variegated color which comprises pressing a pulverulent plastic composition in a die having a pattern in relief in a face thereof to form a coherent porous blank and to impress the pattern into at least a portion of the surface of the blank, applying coloring matter to at least a portion of the patternimpressed surface of the blank, and thereafter pressure-molding the colored blank in a die capable of pressing out the relief structure of said pattern, whereby to obtain an article having the pattern of the blank appearing in the surface thereof solely as variegated color.

2. A method of making articles of variegated color which comprises pressing a pulverulent plastic composition in a die having a pattern in relief in a face thereof to form a coherent porous blank and to impress the pattern into at least a portion of the surface of the blank, spraying a liquid coloring composition on at least a portion of the pattern-impressed surface of the blank, and thereafter pressure-molding the colored blank in a die capable of pressing out the relief structure of said pattern, whereby to obtain an article having the pattern of the blank appearing in the surface thereof solely as variegated color.

3. A method of making articles of variegated color which comprises pressing a pulverulent plastic composition in a die having a pattern in relief in a face thereof to form a coherent porous blank and to impress the pattern into at least a portion of the surface of the blank, applying a powdered coloring composition on at least a portion of the pattern-impressed surface of the blank, and thereafter pressure-molding the colored blank in a die capable of pressing out the relief structure of said pattern, whereby to obtain an article having the pattern of the blank appearing in the surface thereof solely as variegated color.

4. A method of making articles having coloration simulating that of natural materials which comprises pressing a pulverulent plastic composition in a die having a pattern in relief in a face thereof approximating inform at least a portion of the color pattern of the natural material to form a coherent porous blank and to impress the pattern into at least a portion of the surface of the blank, spraying a liquid coloring composition on at least a portion of the patternimpressed surface of the blank, and thereafter pressure-molding the colored blank in a die capable of pressing out the relief structure of said pattern, whereby to obtain an article having the pattern of the blank appearing in the surface thereof solely as variegated color.

5. A method of making articles having coloration simulating that of natural materials which comprises pressing a pulverulent plastic composition in a die having a pattern in relief in a face thereof approximating in form the finer portion of the color pattern of the natural material to form a coherent porous blank and to impress the pattern into at least a portion of the surface of the blank, spraying a liquid coloring composition on at least'a portion of the patternimpressed surface of the blank in a pattern corresponding to the-coarser portion of the color pattern of the natural material, and thereafter pressure-molding the colored blank in a die capable of pressing out the relief structure of said pattern, whereby to obtain an article having the pattern of the blank appearing in the surface thereof solely as variegated color.

NEIL O. BRODERSON. 

